CDC Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases: Gateway Program

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This is a renewal application for the CDC Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases: Gateway Program (SECVBD) led by the University of Florida with both well-established and burgeoning collaborations with 13 universities with strong vector biology programs across the Southeastern United States (U.S.) and Puerto Rico. This integrated academic network carries the full and integrated support of state departments of health, state and federal agricultural agencies, U.S. military programs, national and international associations, and >60 local mosquito and vector control programs. Our proposal leverages the expertise across a broad remit of basic and applied vector biology as well as epidemiological disciplines to continue to maintain the success of our program in (i) establishing an integrated community of practice in public health entomology consisting of academic institutions throughout the Southeast and local, state, and federal public health agencies, to facilitate existing and future efforts in vector-borne disease (VBD) surveillance and control and (ii) expanding an effective academic, online, and internship-based training program in basic public health entomology to augment the cohort of personnel who are trained with the requisite knowledge and skills to quickly detect and respond to VBDs across the U.S., and (iii) initiating the drive towards an evidence-based set of recommendations and a tailored template of a “surveillance-response program” to ensure that local mosquito and vector control associations can better monitor and control VBDs in the U.S. For the next iteration of the SECVBD, we take advantage of the biocomplexity of tick- and mosquito-borne diseases in the Southeastern U.S. and Puerto Rico and leverage an integrated, data-driven, applied research program designed to produce maximal output in novel interventions and training paradigms within a 5-year period to tackle the following CDC priorities: (a) Laboratory/field evaluations of emerging technologies to suppress host-seeking ticks or disrupt pathogen transmission cycles; (b) Field studies aimed at optimizing application of tick control products to provide recommendations for pest control firms and homeowners regarding how to optimize tick suppression; (c) Assessments of the potential for incorporating tick management into existing mosquito management programs; (d) Investigations on the knowledge, attitudes, & behaviors regarding tick control methodologies, (e) Evaluation of the impact of existing public education programs on TBI risk & behaviors to prevent tick bite; (f) Field evaluations of emerging technologies to suppress mosquito adults (insecticide resistance); (g) Field evaluations of mosquito management approaches based on commercially available methods and products (both entomological and human-related outcome measures); and (h) Evaluations of the effectiveness of operational control activities targeting all mosquito stages (including insecticide resistance). The goal is to maintain our established, comprehensive, applied, and basic research program to further our understanding of VBD transmission to prevent VBDs in the continental U.S. and territories.